Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-04-01
MORBID IMPULSES.

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Il is 9 familiar idea that people at
the top Of q high tower or. on the edge
Of q dizzy cliff feel tempted to throw
themselves over, says q writer in the
Detroit Free Press. This is, perhaps.
:he commonest instance st a morbid
impulse. Yet there is in the term q
significance, a breadth OF suggestion,
which must relate back to the expe-
rience, of every man and woman, and
explain feelings which have at the time
seemed odd beyond explanation, feel
ings which have often led an innocent,
seff-respecting individual to the very
verge Of an atrocity which would have
made OF him criminal.
Morbid impulse may be criminal or
humorous. The humorous, no doubt,
when executed, often carry their per.
petrator to the commission of assault
and battery, at least. That the Grim
lnal impulses of this kind are RESPONSE
bio for large proportion of offenses
against criminallaws no one acqualnt-
ed with that line. of defense known as
emotional insanity can for moment
doubt. And the very vital interest
attaching to all such cases depends in
large degree on the hazy and almost
lndefinable causes and surroundings
which are involved in the considera.
ton of morbid impulses.
History records notable instances.
1t was, perhaps, more than anything
else, due to morbid impulse that Ne.
70 struck off the head of that Roman
artisan who came to him with beaten
glass cup in his hand and affirmed
that the secret of making glass MALE
able had yielded to his patient inves-
tigation. The historians who mention
the hitherto irrepar able loss civiliza-
ton has sustained by the failure to
perpetuate this wonderful invention,
ascribe Nero's act to Il fear lest the
precious metals should be superseded.
But to a student OF this fascinating
subject there can be no doubt that
Nero fell an instantaneous victim toa
morbid impulse to crush out at ona
blow this marvellous discovery. II
seems, indeed, a relief to find so human
an impulse in the nature OF creature
who was so inhuman as to fiddle when
the greatest city of the world was
burning.
Ratings are built securely around
the tops of all the tallest towers in
the world to prevent involuntary su.
icldes. The subject of morbid i'm
pulse loses at once all regard for con-
sequences. Whether the indulgence OF
the craving so suddenly born will put
an end to his own life, even, or inhict
a dangerous or fatal injury on some
other, perhaps friend or loved one,
is immaterial.
Maitre Jehan LIE Doux WAS one OF
the most famous advocates in France
during the fifteenth century. 1t is re-
lated of him that he was retained to
defend sailor accused of having
murdered shipmate. On the day Of
the trial the court room WAS crowded.
Maitre Jehan's eloquence held al,
present entranced. There was a hush
of rapt attention as he described the
Incidents OF the alleged crime and re,
lated Incidents, which to the general
mind, seem to indicate conclusively
his clients innocence All at once in
the most impassioned flight of his ar
gument, he paused and, turning to the
tribunal, cried out:
"And still, with all that, this wretch
is guilty, guilty, guilty! He has con-
fessed it to me, he has described the
crime; he is worthy of the most sum-
mary punishment"
And then Maitre Jehan sat down,
apparently overcome. History has
not handed down the effect of this ex-
traordinary scene on those present.
1t is thought by some that many OF
the instances recorded in the daily
papers of fatal wounds inflicted by
weapons in the hands of persons who
"didn't know they were loaded" NAV
be explained on the theory of morbid
impulses. The Irishman at Donny-
brook fair who hit every bare pate he
saw was moved first OF all by NOR
bid impulse. There is something dev-
ilish in the disposition of many if not
most human beings, which may never
crop out, never come to be realized in
the domain of their consciousness,
but which may seize on them with q
force apparently superhunlan atsome
critical moment, when, weapon in
hand, perhaps in sport, a human life
is put suddenly in the balance, and q
nor bid impulse weighs down the fatal
scale.
1t is undoubtedly a morbid impulse
which prompts one to laugh consum-
eddy at the fall OF q stranger on the
icy pavement. There is nothing in it.
self amusing in fall, which may in
fict great injury. But a laugh on q
public thoroughfare is generally it's
attendant.
People riding in railroad cars are not
infreQuently smitten by morbid i'm
pulses to knock the hats off people on
the station platform as the train pass
es. People calling on a parvenu are
often tempted to shrek out in his
crowded drawing-room that he made
his millions pigsticking- People in g.
public assemblage are Familiarity re-
minded OF the man who shrieked just
to break the still,s::s- when Patti rest
ed so long on high &C." Every man
may have, and most people do have,
morbid impulses. The well-discip!1ned
man dosen't Yield to, and is often not
conscious OF, them.
4 Good Word For Pork.